Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Major Charles Askins?

Come on Mr Prairie Goat...none of are saying we want/would if we could, vote in the Col for our next Pastor, ha. He was just a man, and I probably should have said "as far as I know, he was a good man". ha In combat and in LE work, the "line" can get very "blurred" between "killing and murdering"...and I wasn't there.

He's the kinda guy, if you were in a fox hole under fire, you'd want him watching your "6".

Now, I agree that he may not be an ideal candidate for "pastor" or counselor, but when bad guys were out to kill ya, it would be comforting to have the likes of ole Charley backing you.

So, not my job to judge; we all have an ultimate judge and I hope Charley was right with his maker when that time came.

In the mean time, I have enough to do judging myself, no time left or desire to judge him.

DF

Edited to add this: "Judge not that ye be not judged" (Matt 7:1) KJV

That's the kind of thinking that allows people to get away with war crimes. As I recall, the younger Askins was an admitted psychopath. Even by the standards of his day, he was not a good person.

My comments were regarding Junior. Never saw a negative thing in print about Senior.

And you won't.

They were different kinda guys.

Jr. loved his Dad, described his Mom as a "contentious Irish woman". Seems to me, Jr. must have taken more after his Mom than his Dad. Like they say, opposites attract.

Jr. and his Mom had an estranged relationship, weren't speaking.

When the old man died, Jr. found out about it from a mutual friend. That's how this Superposed ended up in someone else's hands until it was finally obtained by Collectors Firearms in Houston. She saw to it that Jr. didn't get it, although he did end up with the Ithaca double discussed earlier and a number of left handed custom rifles. Those guns passed to Bill, his son.

DF

Those "Contentious Irish Mothers" can be "exasperating" for sure. I volunteered for the Army during the VietNam War to get away from mine, lol. Oh sure, we loved each other, just sometimes we couldn't "stand each other", ha

Elmer Keith ended up with the Majors Ithaca 10 gauge and Parker 16 gauge. I wonder if she bypassed Jr on those as well?

Nor have I

A Government employed assassin is he a murderer? Or a justified killing?

Charley wrote he killed the first North Vietnamese soldier with a M-29 S&W, reportedly coming down a trail. Shot him double action; ya reckon that somehow gave him a sporting chance. DA with the Col wasn’t much of break for the ARNV; he ended up just as dead.

As you probably know he was a noted pistol champion, wouldn’t want him shooting at me!

DF

Let's hear it for the Velo Dog!

I’m guessing the Major may have given those to Elmer. Someone who knows may want to chime in.

He and Elmer were lifelong buds.

DF

Yeah, he was gaming the system. That does sound like him.

DF

I think, Elmer bought both the 10 and 16 ga. Ithaca's from the Major. Both were Ithaca's.
The major did get involved in a shooting scrap in the Philippines. He emptyed his .38 into a Morrow soldier, and I think finally hit him over the head. The guy died. He wasn't as deadly as his son. I like both of them for different reasons. Condeming his actions with crooks, is why we are in the mess we are today.

Sand, where did you find the article My Old Man Was a Pistol?

The Major sustained a serious injury, took a while to recover.

Now, if he’d have had that M-29, could have been a different outcome.

DF

For sure.

Well, concerning that anemic .38 revolver, John Moses Browning came to the rescue.

DF

I think it was Lewis Puller or maybe Smedley Butler (Marine 2X MOH receipient) that said if they knew the things they were doing in the banana republics on behalf of the United States Government, they could have given Al Capone some pointers on how to be really evil.

I wished I could remember where I read it to paraphrase it correctly, but I thought it was pretty interesting reading as a young Marine.

44th Edition Gun Digest, 1990.